Roadmap for SxC Theme Archive

[slcw]

What's Next

• Create new banner image to better fit with the hacker theme.
• Add a featured theme section on the website. I'm thinking about possibly using Javascript to dynamically select a random theme, and display it prominently with larger images. The result would be a showcase that promotes a different random theme on every visit to the site. This will be the anchor feature of version 2.0 of the website.
• Add link to hacker theme header linking to SxC Themes group.
• Create button image for the "Join SxC Themes group" link in the header. The button itself is a product of html, but an image similar to the favicon should be added to match look of the "View on GitHub" button.
• Move banner image to hacker theme header.
  Note: this may be problematic as the site header isn't displayed on the repo. So, moving the banner to the header will mean that it's not featured on the GitHub repo. We need to think about this, and explore other options before taking action.
• Add the themes code in a code block below the screenshots in the themes info page
• Apply css styles to the theme gallery table
• There's a weird bug with the screenshot links where a "_" is visible immediately following the left-column screenshots. I'm not sure where that's coming from as it's just a basic <img> tag wrapped with an <a> tag. Perhaps using a table will resolve the issue?
• Move links to alternate theme versions from main gallery to the v1 theme_index pages. When you open v1 of a particular theme, there should be a link to alternate versions below the screenshots, and above the Theme Properties section.
• Develop workaround for GitHub Pages rendering bug to allow gallery thumbnail links.
  Note: We may be able resolve this using css links.
• Look into methods for facilitating direct theme upload by users on website.
• Add <footer> section to default.html for site credits, contact info, and appropriate copyright notices for SimpleX Chat, Ltd.
• Add clickable filter to select light/dark themes as well as wallpaper/no wallpaper themes. We can use the ⚪/⚫ emoji for light/dark click-links, and 🖼️/🚫 for wallpaper/no wallpaper.
• Esthetic cleanup

[slcw]

Aug 31, 2024

• New theme banner has been created by ParadisiacDoting! He spent a bunch of time with me developing the new look, and working through several iterations to get it just right. The result is fantastic! It looks really amazing. I've propagated the new banner to all site pages, and it's now live.
• My next related goal is to move the banner image to the site theme header so it doesn't need to be coded to all pages, and will be a part of the site theme.

[slcw]

Sep 4, 2024

• Today, I updated all theme_index files to use the latest version of the theme banner. It looks great on both the website and the repo! Props to ParadisiacDoting and GasLighter for their essential work on the banner. It would have taken me a year and a day to get that done, and it probably wouldn't have looked as good. The image work just isn't my thing! Lol 😂
• I added a Theme Properties section to the theme_index pages, just below the screenshots. It's a codeblock featuring the various color values used by each theme. This will be useful to users who may want to play with the themes and make their own versions, or just look under the hood and see exactly which colors are used for the different attributes. It also adds real substance to the index pages, making the site actually useful beyond just downloading theme files.
• My next task is to look at the jekyll theme platform, and figure out the best way to make changes to the header. We want to add a button that links directly to the SxC Themes group next to to the button that links to the GitHub repo, and possibly move the themeBanner up to the header. However, I'm not sure if that's going work well because the repo doesn't display the header, so if we move the banner it will no longer be visible on the repo. We'll have to investigate that a bit more before settling on a solution.
• I also want to start thinking about how to best implement the Featured Theme section. I'm thinking some Javascript will probably be our best bet, but I want to look into other possibilities before making a final determination.
• Finally, now that the core functionality of the site is implemented and fully tested, we're ready for our official launch/announcement, planned for Friday, timed for when the most users are online and active on SxC groups.

[slcw]

Sep 5, 2024

• In preparation for our announcement of version 1.0 of the website, I added a favicon (website icon) using the official SxC Chat app icon. It's a relatively minor detail, but it looks good and adds consistent branding to the website. I also cleaned up the header a bit, changing the site title to, "SimpleX-Themes" to match the root URL, and the site description to, "SimpleX Chat Theme Archive". The title and description appear at the top of every site page providing a consistent experience throughout the site.
• Also added to the header is a button-link to Join SxC Themes group that matches the style of the View on GitHub button also featured in the header. This is a SxC link that initiates the process for joining the group. As we are directing users to upload their custom themes to the group, it's important that we have a prominent link to join the group at the head of each page.
• With these minor issues taken care of, we are ready to announce v1.0 of the website to the world! GasLighter will make the announcement to select SxC groups tomorrow (Friday), and I will post the announcement to the SimpleX Chat reddit sub, as well as on Mastodon (Fedi).
• I'm excited to unleash the Theme Archive on the world, and drive some user traffic to the site. Ultimately, the site needs to be useful, and be the place users go to browse, and download themes, and that requires that users know about and visit the site. These announcements are the beginning of building the necessary user base.

[slcw]

Sep 6, 2024:

• Today was our official launch day! GasLighter made the announcement on several SxC groups, and I posted the announcement on reddit, Mastodon, and Nostr. Based on new stars and follows on GitHub, I'd say we drove some new traffic to the site and made sure the community was aware of the new project. Given that it's the weekend, I anticipate more use over the coming days. Nobody reported any bugs, or problems with the site so I consider the entire endeavor a success. We did it!
• One thing that really pissed me off was a small handful of SxC users who clearly don't know their ass from their elbow decided to invent a bullshit story claiming that SimpleX themes are a backdoor to track and de-anonymize users. One guy claimed the government was behind it, and another guy claimed that theme files could be used to infect clients with a malicious payload that installs secret tracking software. These are pathetic individuals who have combined their ignorance with their irrational paranoia, and a sad, desperate need to be seen as informed users with cutting edge information. They're just liars who are willing to spread utter nonsense with no basis in fact for the sake of making themselves feel important. Fortunately, pretty much everyone saw through their bullshit and downvoted the hell out of their comments. For the record, theme files are just text files with YAML variables that define color hex codes, and an optional wallpaper image that's been converted to base64 text. They're used solely by the local app to define the various color attributes used by the theme. Anyone can view these files and see for themselves that there's nothing nefarious about them. Hopefully, the rebuttals I posted in conjunction with the multiple downvotes they received will put an end to these destructive rumors, and make these characters think twice before spreading unfounded lies.
• It would be nice to have a way to monitor site usage statistics, to see how many users we're getting, and what themes are most popular. The Hacker theme templates include functionality for Google Analytics, and I'd personally be OK with using that, but I know how people feel about Google, and I wouldn't want it to become a point of contention or controversy. I'll talk to GasLighter about it and see what he thinks. Maybe there's some other usage monitoring solution we can use that won't raise eyebrows, so we'll have to explore that a bit to see what our options are.
• Tomorrow, I'm planning on jumping back in and starting work on our outstanding to-do items. The next big feature is going to be the "Featured Themes" section. This will most likely require Javascript combined with css, so it's going to take some time to design and code. If we can finalize the design by the end of the week, I'd like to start coding next weekend, but obviously that's just aspirational, and the time-frame will depend on a number of factors.
• Another item I'd like to cross of the list sooner rather than later is the site footer. We need this template addition for site credits, contact information, and copyright disclaimers for SimpleX Chat, Ltd. We have a disclaimer at the top letting users know that the Theme Archive is an independent community project unaffiliated with SimpleX Chat, but it's proper form to note the trademark and copyright information of 3rd parties we reference on the site. For the sake of protocol, and doing right by Evgeny, I want to make sure we cover our bases and give the appropriate respect and consideration to SimpleX Chat, Ltd. The footer is the place to do that. Fortunately, that's a relatively easy addition, and I have no doubt we can bang that out by the end of the week. Onward and upward!

[slcw]

Sep 13, 2024:

• I had to put development aside for a few days to deal with some IRL work, but I'm back.
• I added the <footer> code to the default.html file. It features a horizontal rule <hr> tag. Below that I've moved the SimpleX Chat disclaimer text from the top of the site, as well as trademark notice for SimpleX Chat, Ltd., and contact information for the SimpleX Themes group admins. Last, is a centered, "SimpleX Chat Theme Archive v1.0" notation. I used the GitHub Hacker theme css styling for all elements to ensure a consistent appearance. It looks really good! The footer is pulled from the site page template so it's applied to all site pages.
• The next item I'm going to work on is the weird "_" that appears on the theme_index pages between the screenshots. I have a feeling I can fix that by using a table to house the screenshot links rather than just using straight <img> tags. Tomorrow, I'll mark up a test index file using a table, and see if that fixes the problem. If it does, I'll have to propagate that change to all existing theme_index files, as well as the template for future use. Fingers crossed 🤞!

[slcw]

Sep 18, 2024:

• At the request of SummeryPretty, I added an optional "Credits" section to the themeIndex_template file. This will be used for attribution and artistic credit for wallpaper and any other elements used in particular themes. This won't be used for all themes, but it's good to have a defined section and process for including in themes that are accompanied by such information. The Credits will be listed on the theme index pages, below the theme properties.
• We've had someone using multiple profiles join the group, dump a bunch of themes, and then quickly leave. At first I thought it was just someone who wanted to contribute without engaging with the group, but on closer inspection I discovered that all their themes were basically the same; very low quality, black & white with meme wallpaper and bizzaro names. This is a troll who's attempting to waste our time, and pollute the archive with shit content. Fortunately, none of his crap made it through my process and onto the archive. I made sure GasLighter was made aware, and if he comes back and tries it again we're going to ban him from the group. Of course, he can just create new profiles and come back, but hopefully he'll get the message that we're onto him, and lose interest. And his themes will just be deleted so nobody will waste their time on them.
• The weekend is upon us once again, and I'm planning to address the minor items on our checklist, and begin mapping out how to tackle the Featured Theme feature we want to introduce for the next version of the archive. I was originally thinking Javascript, and I may still use that, but I've got some other ideas I want to run down. The dev of the SimpleX Server Registry project is using something called Svelte, which is a web-app development platform that uses Javascript and some other magic, along with open-source Firebase alternative SupaBase on the backend. It works with GitHub Pages as he's also hosting on GitHub, and it looks very interesting. It really opens up a lot of possibilities, including our Featured Theme idea, so I'm excited to dig into it and see what we can do. More to come...